In Horace C. Silsby et al., Appellants, v. Elisha Foote, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a case concerning an 1851 Connecticut statute that allowed for creditors to collect debts from debtors who had moved out of state by attaching their property in Connecticut. The appellants argued that this law was unconstitutional because it violated Article IV Section 2 Clause 1 of the Constitution which states “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State” as well as Article I Section 10 Clause 1 which prohibits any state from passing laws impairing contracts between citizens or with foreign nations or among different states. The court ultimately ruled against them stating that while Congress has power under both Articles mentioned above to regulate interstate commerce and enforce full faith and credit between states they have not done so yet thus leaving individual state legislatures free to pass such statutes without violating either article.

In the case of Horace C. Silsby et al., Appellants, v. Elisha Foote, Justice Nelson delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the majority had misinterpreted an act passed by Congress in 1820 and thus wrongly decided against the appellants. He believed that under this act, any person who was entitled to pre-emption rights on public lands could purchase up to 160 acres at $1.25 per acre without having first obtained a patent from the government for such land; however, if they wished to acquire more than 160 acres then they would need to obtain a patent before making their purchase. Furthermore, he argued that even though it may have been possible for Mr Foote's predecessors-in-title (the original purchasers) not to have taken out patents when buying these lands originally due to ignorance or oversight on their part - as long as there was no fraud involved - this did not mean that Mr Foote should be allowed title over them now since his predecessors had failed in their duty towards obtaining proper legal title from the United States Government at some point during their ownership of said property.